The Z Word
by TrapezoidalGreenOnes
Summary: Breaking the rules hadn't hurt anyone. Until now.
1. Prologue

"What are you doing, Elder Schrader?"

"I'm opening the window, what does it look like?"

Elder Neeley could hear Gotswana's words echoing through his mind: Always sleep with the windows closed. It had just been one more rule to add to the giant list that they'd been given at the Missionary Training Centre - and now, it seemed to be going the same way as the rest of them.

"But didn't Gotswana say that we shouldn't-"

"Look, Elder Neeley, it's scorching in here, and I definitely won't be able to sleep unless we get some air in here. You didn't object to Elder Church and Elder Davis destroying the alarm clocks, did you? What makes this different?"

"Didn't he say something about murderers coming in through the window?"

"How long have we been here? Six months. When has anything ever tried to come through the window? Oh, that's right. Never."

He had a point. They'd never found any marks on the window, any footprints around it, no signs that anyone apart from the missionaries had ever come near this building. It was really, really hot today as well.

He could never have imagined what would come next…


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Elder McKinley finds himself waking up to the sound of screams - for once, they're not his own. It's not any of the usual suspects, either - at least, he doesn't recognise the voice from any of the previous nights.

Apparently, it was strange enough to wake his companion, Elder Thomas, who could normally sleep through anything.

"Elder McKinley? What's happening?"

"I-I don't know. I'm going to take a look."

He didn't want to - but if something was happening to someone in his district, it was his duty to help them. Looking around, he tries to find anything that could possibly help them - there was a distinct lack of weapons, strangely enough.

"Could these help?"

Elder Thomas was holding up a couple of spare planks from when they'd had to reinforce the floor after the dance practices turned into a regular occurrence. The destruction of the alarm clocks proved that these planks would suffice if there was an intruder in the hut - now it was time to test that theory.

It had gone quiet in the hut - too quiet, McKinley thought, before reprimanding himself about the use of that horrible cliche. Whoever was screaming had stopped, but he hadn't heard any of the doors opening. It looked like they'd have to check every room to find out what the cause of the disturbance was.

Thump.

"What was that?"

"Shh!"

"Sorry."

"It came from Elder Neeley's and Elder Schrader's room."

"...Um, Elder McKinley?"

"Yes?"

"Why isn't anyone else awake? Y-You don't think whatever it is got everyone else too?"

No. He wouldn't allow himself to even think like that. He's worried enough as it is that two of the people that he feels responsible for are in danger - let alone even considering that the others might be even less well off. He still remembers the hell dream that he had when Elder Price and Elder Cunningham had run off into the Ugandan night, and he has no intentions of ever having that particular one again.

"Come on. Let's just check on these two, then we'll go back to sleep once we've found out that they're fine."

He opens the door, and whatever he was expecting to see, it certainly wasn't... this. Elder Schrader was attempting to improvise a bandage for a wound on his leg, while Elder Neeley was sitting on... he wanted to say someone, but it didn't look like anything alive. There was an overwhelming smell of decay coming from the room, and it was making him feel a little nauseous.

"Elder McKinley! Thank goodness - I don't know if I can hold him any more! And Elder Schrader's hurt, but he..."

"Shh. It's going to be okay, trust me. Don't worry about it for now. Elder Thomas, go and fetch me four ties, and the first aid kit. Let's try not to wake anyone else up."

He has to admit, he's impressed that between the two of them, there were no life-threatening injuries. He doesn't want to imagine what would have happened if the intruder had found his way into any other room - especially his.

His companion returns with the supplies that he'd requested, and they get to work. It was a good thing that they'd all been Boy Scouts at one time or another - and that Elder Neeley's first aid training was definitely coming in handy as he started patching up his companion's wound, while Elder Thomas and he started working on securing the unconscious intruder to the bed frame using the ties and an encyclopaedic knowledge of knots.

They thought that they were starting to win this particular battle. They were wrong.


End file.
